Close Brothers Asset Finance has provided specialist designer and manufacturer, Brand Consortia, with a term loan backed by CBILS to help the business through the COVID-19 period, putting it in a positive position once site working is deemed safe again.

Based in Oldham, Brand Consortia specialises in the design and manufacture of signs and graphics for high-profile customers. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the business was on track to post a record year. However, the bulk of the company’s order book was postponed for a minimum of eight weeks because of the outbreak.

Matthew Sproston, area sales manager for the manufacturing division at Close Brothers Asset Finance, says: “We’re delighted to have been able to support a British manufacturing business at a time when they needed it most. The directors approached us for forbearance on their existing agreement, which was granted. They also needed a cash injection to provide working capital and help cover the new costs associated with adapting to social distancing measures in their manufacturing facility. The funds will provide the working capital they require to trade out of the pandemic.”

Brad Tupman, managing director at Brand Consortia, adds: “Pretty much the entirety of our workload has been suspended because the type of work we undertake involves site visits; these are critical to our work and have been pushed back to until the pandemic settles down. We have supply agreements in place with our customers and we’re confident in fulfilling our orders once we’re allowed on site again.
“We weren’t eligible for the small retail grant, business rate relief or larger schemes, and had been looking at CBILS as a financing option,” he continues. “We’re grateful that Close Brothers Asset Finance really stepped up, continuing to help businesses like our own while other lenders were not looking to take on new customers.”

For further information
www.closeassetfinance.co.uk

Ölands Vattenskärning AB, a waterjet cutting specialist in Scandinavia, has recently installed its largest machine to date. The machine, made by Water Jet Sweden, has a 4 x 15 m cutting area and is equipped with two cutting heads, one with 0-60°cutting capability.

Some time ago, Ölands Vattenskärning identified a need for a machine with a large cutting surface and the ability to cut in five axes. As luck would have it, another customer of Water Jet Sweden located nearby planned to close its operations. Since 2013 TBS Yard had been manufacturing large sandwich constructions for the shipping industry and, for this purpose, invested in a Grand machine from Water Jet Sweden. This powerful 4 x 15 m machine harnessed two cutting heads, including a five-axis Beveljet 60.

Serviced regularly, the Grand waterjet was in very good condition. Several companies were interested in buying the machine, but Ölands Vattenskärning eventually won the bidding.

The service team from Water Jet Sweden moved the machine to the new site. This turnkey service includes machine reconditioning, packaging, transportation and an operations guarantee, making sure that everything functions properly after installation.

“It’s common for customers to turn to us for this type of assignment because we offer the whole package and ensure that everything works,” explains Ronny Martinsson, head of customer service at Water Jet Sweden. “Moving a very large machine is complex when it comes to loading, unloading, arranging wide load transportation and so on. We took care of it all, arranged transport and carried out additional training on how to run the five-axis Beveljet 60 cutting head.”

As a contract cutter, Ölands Vattenskärning is now the only company in Scandinavia with the ability to offer a machining capacity of 60 sq m profiling surface with 0-60° cutting.

For further information
www.waterjetsweden.com